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McAfee Advertising, Way Asleep.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

So is the brand pronounced Mac-a-fee or Mih-Caffee.  (Hoe-gaarden or Who-Garden?) One of a brand’s first challenges is to make sure the name is pronounced correctly.  McAfee is a killer PC protection software product, which, if I’m not mistaken. is #1 or 2 in the marketplace.  It was purchased earlier this year by Intel.   I’m a 3-license custy and couldn’t be happier.

But, as an ad rat (a gym rat for ads) I can’t help but see that McAfee needs a marketing boost.  There is an ad in the newspaper today showing the McAfee logo as a superman emblem on a man’s chest. The pithy headline reads SAFE NEVER SLEEPS. A line they give a TM.   Not sure if it qualifies as copy but in small text beneath the line reads (I’ll save you the caps) “Smarter security. Every device, every network, everywhere.”

Classic “we’re here” advertising.   Is it any wonder digital advertising is cutting into traditional ad budgets?  This is some lazy stuff.  I’m not sure I can even type anymore I’m so disappointed. There is no claim here. And no proof.  Only colors, type and photography.  Why does the McAfee marketing dept. bother to get out of bed in the morning?  Are you kidding me?  What’s the idea?

Web Videos.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

There are a couple of different types of videos that marketers put on their websites. Product demonstrations are a common type.  They typically provide an overview of a product’s Is-Does after which they show how to use the product. Sometimes they fall into the tutorial category.  How to properly press coffee, how to use a new mobile application, how to clean your shower grout. 

Another type of web video is educational. It uses visual narrative to help consumers learn more about a product or category so as to make them seem like an authority — and as an authority deserving of special purchase consideration.  Category leaders, the saying goes, educate the market.  

A third type of website video is the infotainment or sales-otainment video. They look good on paper, read and view well on storyboard, and often look beautiful as a finished edited product.  The problem with some of these sales-otainment videos is they are nothing more than a script, a giggle, a product shot and invoice.  Like “we’re here” advertising that does no more than state a product name and where to purchase, these sales-otainment videos are all over the place. The goal of many of these efforts is to “go viral.”  (Wrong goal.)  Big ad agencies are doing them.  Recent film school grads are doing them. High school friends brothers are doing them.  

There is comedy writing and acting. There is directing and producing. There is invoicing and remittance.  But let’s not forget that web videos have to sell. Of course they have to be interesting, but that alone will not work. If research doesn’t indicate predisposition to buy more product after having seen a sales-otainment video, it has failed. Sales-otainment videos need an idea. A selling idea.  Peace!

My Spanking by David Poque.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

David Poque, a technology columnist for The New York Times, is a very interesting character.  He’s a thoughtful, important and market-moving purveyor of what’s hot and what’s not.  Sometimes his columns are a bit like a PC Mag review, but mostly they’re a fun Anthony Bourdain-like travelogue through the tasty streets of technology.

I have seen Mr. Poque on public television and he has a subtle nervousness about him on camera that doesn’t come across in print… so if I were my mother and in an advice-giving mood I suggest he stay in print.  Interestingly, Mr. Poque’s public and private personas are a tad different.  I posted about one of his columns once with a differing point of view and it really rubbed him. (I advocated not providing in-box instructions with new products to save paper.) His angry and personal comment on my blog surprised — telling me there is a bit more to Mr. Pogue than meets the eye.  (A side that might be fun to read outside of the NYT guardrails.)

My prediction:  Mr. Poque will either leave The New York Times within the next 3 years and create his own branded site or AOL will make him an offer he can’t refuse.  Yahoo could, but they have a lazy eye.  Peace.

Image Goals and Brand Plans.

By
Steve Poppe
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One of advertising’s roles is to change peoples’ attitudes.  Some might call this image or brand advertising, which is quite different from retail or transactional advertising.  General Motors is really bad at brand advertising.  They try hard and spend money but for some reason it rarely changes attitudes. 

Samsung, using the work of the Arnell Group,  was one of the first corporations to strike me as getting it.  It was back in the 90s when the word Samsung conveyed second tier products, cheap electronics and dollar-store imagery.  Using Peter Arnell’s mind and, I believe, his camera, Samsung displayed its products around NYC on big black, white and gray outdoor posters, alongside sexy human images.  A ripped torso carrying a microwave may sound silly but is was artful.  It burnished then polished the Samsung image.  

Bosch is doing the same today with a product-based image campaign showing off a number of its stylish household appliances. In my mind Bosch was famous for brake shoes and audio products, not refrigerators and dishwashers.  But the print ads I’ve been seeing over the last few months have made me notice how beautifully designed these appliance are.  The consistent advertising tells me they are here to stay and the engineering heritage borrowed from memory compliments the pictures and words.  I would definitely buy a Bosch appliance now. Image.

Without an image transactions are fleeting.  Understand your brand — its past and present. Decide where you want to go and make that part of your brand plan.  Toss out overused words like “innovation” and “remarkable” and “engagement.” Get in touch with your image goal and build a brand plan.  Sales will follow. Peace.

PS.  Image can be built using new digital media.  In fact, it can be build much faster. But it has to be “on plan” and focused.

Kleiner on Clean Tech.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

There was an article yesterday in The Wall Street Journal suggesting that until recently, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufiled & Byers took a siesta on investing in tech companies while placing bets on clean tech.  So post-nap, after having missed a number of cool tech start-ups, they hired Mary Meeker a great mind, data organizer and trend reported to help them earn some new stripes in the VC area which they kind of invented.  Kleiner is still interested in clean tech but The Journal reports they’re refocusing on the tech sector in a hearty way.

If clean tech was easy it wouldn’t be worth investing in.  Please, please John Doerr, give “clean” your best.  Find exciting new energy engineers. Find algae chemists. Optical engineers. And biologists with the vision to help us plot the way.  We’ve only got a million more years on this planet and your investments in clean energy will make a difference.  Making money is cyclical, history is not.  Stay the course my Kleiner brothers and sisters!  Clean us up. Peace!

Humor.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I have a presentation on Fast Twitch Media and Twitch Point Planning that asks the question are our brains evolving bigger or smaller?  Larger, posited Timothy White back in the 80s when I asked a question about evolution during a John’s Hopkins symposium, but I’m not so sure.

As software takes over decision making for us, it seems we have to think less. That is, unless we’re deciding which GPS to use — the Garmin or the Android phone app. (They are not perfectly in synch! Oh my.)

One of the things coders and engineers cannot do very well is humor.  It’s not that they are genetically indisposed to humor, but humor can’t be programmed. There is no algorithm. And therein lies the value of the creative mind.  

Humor is a wonderful tool in society and well valued in content creation that surrounds marketing.  I still giggle each time the BBDO/ATT “flash mob gone wrong” ad appears, though it is wearing out. Humor gets noticed and it disarms.  It is an elixir that helps a sales message get consumed. Branded utility is the rage these days in mobile apps, but soon that utility will become commoditized and we will need to smile as we tweak our media and our apps.  Might as well begin now; add a spoonful of humor to your digital selling and see what happens. Peace!

Watch to Learn.

By
Steve Poppe
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There is something to be said for the ability to observe consumers.  Interviewing is a great and not over-rated technique but consumers don’t always tell the truth. Good interviewers get to the truth directly or indirectly but observation of  behavior doesn’t lie.

I was thinking about this and the bank category the other day.  How does one create a great brand plan, then marketing plan for a bank?  On Long Island, over the last couple of years a lot of car dealerships have been torn down.  Oddly, the lots upon which they sat now house banks. More banks?  How to differentiate?  I wondered if I were to sit in a bank and observe for a couple of days what I would learn. If a poker player can see tells, why can’t brand planner?  

I would watch the eyes of customers as they enter. Watch their hands. Note expressions. As they spoke to bank reps are they falsely smiling and nervous? Do they look at the clock a lot. Check their cell phones too much. Are they emotional? Proud? Deflated?  When they talk about certain subjects do they tick?  Rub their hands together? Look away? You get the picture. Pairing the behavior with the topic would be quite telling. And provide strong fodder for marketing design.

While with a web start-up that boasted no initial desire for formal usability testing (don’t get me started) I did it myself.  Fascinating. Just watching how Millennials navigated around the pages to learn the apps was invaluable. I was able to articulate three types of first user experience (FUE) behavior. Could the users have explained it to me? Doubt it.  My cultural anthropology teachers and Margaret Mead were right. Observation is a special, special information gathering tool. Peace!

Greed in marketing. Something to tink about.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Greed in marketing is nothing new.  Being different. Acting different. Selling differently…all support creating a competitive advantage and making more money. But greed is not a good thing.  It has ruined the economy (mortgage-backed securities), kept the U.S. beholden to terrorist oil states, and no doubt played a role in many hatreds around the world.  Sometimes greed needs to reach a breaking point before it succumbs.

Yesterday’s announcement between Ford and Toyota, to work on a hybrid engine for pick-up trucks may be a good sign for the planet and for marketing. The U.S. gov’t smartly threw down the gauntlet in terms of miles per gallon goals for vehicles recently and this new rear wheel drive engine is a massive step toward meeting those goals. (Anyone home GM?) Normally, greed would have kept a deal like this from happening, but Ford and Toyota are showing good judgment and forward thinking and they woman-ed up.  Oh, and the only reason it is happening is because Alan R. Mulally and  Akio Toyoda (company CEOs) ran into each other in the airport and probably actually liked one another.

As we marketers put our plans together, fill in our charts and goals and KPIs, how about we ask ourselves a simple tough question “If I wasn’t going to be greedy, what new company strategy might I employ?” As my Norwegian aunt might have said “Tink about it.”  Peace!  

The Digital Triangle. The Perfect Start-up Womb.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The digital triangle, located in NYC, bears three distinct corners.  DUMBO in Brooklyn. SOHO in Manhattan. Union Square, also in Manhattan.

DUMBO is where the coders are.  A youthful tech workforce who live digitally-centric lives, they are smart and have engineer-friendly minds. (A lot of gamer consoles burn out in DUMBO.) It’s a little men and boy heavy.  Union Square is where the money is.  Where the incubators are.  It’s where the DUMBO denizens with entrepreneurial spirit visit with their hands out.  It’s close to NYU and also has a lovely, youthful energy. Parking is expensive in Union Square but the smart money walks the streets.  SOHO is what makes the digital triangle different.  It is where designers, the truly creative and exceptionally beautiful like to call home. They don’t live there really, just work, shop and hang. If you can’t get inspired in SOHO with all its art, nubes, soft tacos, fashion, and vibe, you can’t get inspired.  All these neighborhoods are a subway or bike ride apart and feed off of each other. It is a perfect storm for start-ups.  

Unlike Sand Hill Road (money), its surrounding neighborhoods of Menlo Park, Palo Alto, etc. (tech engineers) and San Francisco (ad people) the Digital Triangle is close but not really connected. The west coast likes campuses. It works but not like the digital triangle. As technology’s pull increases and more and more of the economy is tied to digital commerce, NYC will grow in importance globally and will become a tech capital with no peer. Just ask Fred Wilson. Peace.

Bi-Polar Disorder at HP?

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Leo Apotheker CEO of HP in a recent interview came off as a really smart, refreshingly calm captain of the tech industry.  You know the type, not smiling but almost, methodical and thoughtful in his delivery. Confident, not cocky. He knew his numbers, his trends, margins (everyone’s margins, in fact) and had a plan – a future-proof plan.  Use WebOs as the connective tissue for all computing and communication devices, bolstered by an enterprise cloud play.  Lovely.  Sprawling but lovely. Anyone smell an apple?

Those who read these musings know I am all about focus.  That’s the brand planner in me. HP has been anything but focused over the last 10 years. A printer company. The world’s leading PC company. Outsourcing. Big iron. Smart phones. Tabs. And operating systems. But let’s not forget in the post Carly Fiorina era, this company’s financials have been smoking. So the company’s scale has been a positive.

In a stunning announcement yesterday, Mr. Apotheker went on record as saying he wants to jettison tablets, smart phones and the WebOs as businesses, sell the PC business as a standalone unit and buy Autonomy Software for $10B. Normally, I would support this type of move, especially for a floundering company, but this almost feels other-worldly.

The reported for the New York Times Verne G. Kopytoff (also sounds fishy) used words to describe the PC move such as “dump” and “unload.” What PR person was handling this briefing?   

I understand the need for focus and I get the desire to increase margins through upping the software and cloud quotient, which by the way dials down the need for headcount, but this business move feels bi-polar. I wonder how the story is playing in the HP Personal Systems Group today?  Check the meds. Peace.

 

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